Nothing is better than satisfying a craving for junk food. Be it Oreos, chips, or chocolate, digging into your favorite snack is probably the best feeling in the world. But what happens when junk food stops becoming a guilty pleasure and instead becomes a real addiction?

Research has discovered that sugar is more addictive than cocaine and that your brain becomes addicted to its own release of opioids in the reward system. The reward system in our brains evolutionarily benefited us by rewarding us for engaging in behavior that encouraged our survival. Thus, when we eat, the neurotransmitter dopamine (usually associated with happiness and pleasure) is released, causing the happy feeling you get when you satisfy a craving.

The world that we live in is one of easy access to sugar-rich foods and has lead to the normalization of overly sweet and processed foods in our everyday lives. Just like any addiction, tolerance to a substance may occur. In this case, constantly activating the reward system and releasing dopamine by continuously eating junk food can cause dopamine receptors to down-regulate. At this point, dopamine receptors are removed by the brain to maintain a balanced state. Fewer dopamine receptors prevent the same stimulation/effect created by dopamine release; thus we tend to eat more junk food to reach the same level of pleasure as before.
Here is where we find the bane of every dieter’s existence: the craving. Cravings, the desire to consume a specific food item, can be triggered by cues such as smells, sights, or even emotional states. Cravings have the ability to dominate your attention until you reward yourself; continuing this cycle creates a higher level of tolerance and inevitably leads to a higher rate of consuming food.

If the ever present problem of food addiction goes out of control, it can eventually lead to physical problems (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc.) and psychological problems (anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues).

However, midnight-snackers and diet-cheaters, don’t think that one Oreo will cause you to spiral out of control! There is hope: just be careful. Eating healthy and nutritious meals, exercising, and cutting down on sugar loaded or processed foods is a good way to prevent food addiction. Just think twice the next time you inhale an entire sleeve of Oreos.

Sensory Processing Disorder(SPD) is a disorder that impairs processing of sensory information in the brain. For children it can cause klutziness, an inability to properly orient the body, poor fine motor skills, and a hypersensitivity to sound. In summary, this disorder makes it very difficult to process incoming information. The condition is very common for children and often is not properly diagnosed because until recently, there had not been a real biological explanation for the disorder. A very common treatment for these patients is occupational therapy.

The presiding physician diagnoses SPD by clinical observations, the Sensory Profile, and the Sensory Processing Measure. The Sensory Processing Scales is a new clinical testing method that is currently under development. Beforehand there had not been any definitive neurological proof of SPD, but studies on SPD have been gradually emerging, including those about isolated structural abnormalities in male children with SPD.

Last year, UC San Francisco showed conclusive neurological symptoms of SPD. By using a subset of MRI imaging called DTI (diffusion tensor imaging), scientists were able to map out white matter of children’s brains. The white matter is where higher level processing occurs in the brain. Those with SPD had abnormal white matter tracts in the area corresponding to auditory, visual, and somatosensory systems specialized for sensory processing. The problem arises on the timing of sensory transmission. With these findings scientists are sure how to in the future research SPD.

Another study by Ayres tests the hypothesis that meltdowns resulting from touching children with SPD are a result of malfunction in brain processes. The scientist on this research also tested sensory gating in these children, hypothesizing that auditory stimulus would cause abnormal brain activity and abnormal sensory gating. Sensory gating is a measure of the ability of the CNS to inhibit responses to redundant or irrelevant sensory stimuli. Children with SPD have a deficiency in sensory gating, if they have too much repressed auditory stimuli. Unfortunately, the results of the study were disorganized when sensory gating was measured in children with SPD. Conclusively, researchers who processed auditory stimuli in the brains found less auditory sensory gating that can possibly explain how SPD children have trouble dealing with auditory stimuli.

These new breakthroughs in studying sensory processing disorder will provide a higher understanding of the disorder, its treatment. These studies also provide new insight on how sensory processing works in all individuals, not just those with SPD. These findings will begin to show us what was previously unknown.

We all feel scared, jumpy, or anxious but have you ever stopped to think why? Have you ever wondered why you get those goosebumps or why you feel that you are frozen sometimes? Just in time for Halloween, here is some information on how our body processes fear. According to NIMH, fear is defined as a feeling of disquiet that begins rapidly in the presence of danger and dissipates quickly once the threat is removed and is also generally adaptive. Fear is a primitive response.

While neuroscientists do not understand the pathways that we take to interpret fear, there are a few recent studies that examine this. In the first one, scientists identified specific neurons called SOM+ that are linked to a type of “fear memory” held in the amygdala.

In the second study, researchers determined that the amygdala is not the only way that the human mind internalizes fear. They found that the brainstem, diencephalon and insular cortex also detect fear by sensing the body’s more primal signals of danger when basic survival may be threatened. This finding could be an explanation for why people have panic attacks because this panic and intense fear are found outside of the amygdala.

Consider the three main responses that humans have to fear: freezing, fleeing, or fighting. In a 2010 study published in Neuron, scientists concluded that deciding whether to freeze, flee or fight is an extremely complex process. Additionally, they believe that humans can consciously condition ourselves to be more active in facing the fear by inhibiting these fear neurons. The study found that mice exhibited a change from a passive to an active fear response by activating the outer layer of the cerebrum, the cortex. This finding confused scientists because they originally believed that the amygdala controlled fear through the brainstem, not the cortex. This study is key in understanding how to switch from a passive to more active fear coping strategy in order to more successfully handle the everyday stress of modern life.

These findings are extremely useful in determining new fear and stress coping techniques. While developing these strategies will take some time, use this information and think about what your brain is doing next time you scream during a scary movie, jump at a rustle in the bushes, or run away when you hear a loud noise. In the meantime, happy Halloween and embrace that fear!

Not one for sour food? Look no further than miracle berries – the fruit of the shrub Synsepalum dulcificum – to turn sour delicacies into sweet treats. A New York Times article reported the drastic changes in the taste sensation that consumers experienced after eating these berries. A tart concoction of lemon sorbet and Guinness tasted like a chocolate milkshake, a drizzle of tabasco sauce could have been mistaken for donut glaze – just one berry is enough to turn your taste buds upside down.

This miracle is achieved by the appropriately named miraulin, a glycoprotein contained in the fleshy portion of the berry. It binds to taste receptors on the taste buds, and for the most part does not affect taste sensation. However, when sour foods are consumed, the acid contained lowers the pH in the mouth. The miraculin on the receptors binds to the protons released by acidic substances, activating sweet receptors. It has been suggested that it changes the structure of taste receptors on the tongue, but any evidence towards this has been inconclusive. It is interesting to note that miraculin itself is not sweet.In fact, the berry has very little sugar.
Miracle berries have been used at least since the 19th century in West Africa before each meal. More recently, it has been experimented with for use as a commercial sweetener for diabetes patients. There has also been a reported demand for them from cancer patients as it helps alleviate the metallic taste in the mouth caused by chemotherapy. Bartenders have also attempted to make ‘miracle fruit cocktails’, however these have been unsuccessful due to the high perishability of the berry. Fruits are available mostly from specialty sellers, at a pricey $2 per berry.

]]>http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/21/miracle-berries-a-twist-on-sweet-and-sour/feed/0Those Kids and Their Crazy Hormoneshttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/19/those-kids-and-their-crazy-hormones/
http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/19/those-kids-and-their-crazy-hormones/#commentsSun, 19 Oct 2014 20:48:34 +0000Kavya Raghunathanhttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/?p=7084
Imagine you’re on your first date and you and your partner are hitting it off big time. It’s probably his/her witty comments or good sense of humor, his/her intelligence or impeccably beautiful smile that makes you feel extremely attracted to your date. As time goes on, you look deeply into each other’s eyes and giggle. You wonder, “am I falling in love?” The answer is: probably not (you’re only on your first date here, come on). You may not be falling in love, but you are feeling a stronger and closer bond being formed; and you’re feeling this way with some help from the hormones norepinephrine, dopamine, and oxytocin.

That’s right, kids– everything your parents told you about your crazy hormones when you had “The Talk” is true. Your hormones really are going crazy, and they really are helping you feel the way you do. When in love, areas in the brain that are known for their dopamine and norepinephrine production light up.

Norepinephrine, synthesized from dopamine, is released primarily as a stress hormone to affect concentration. Furthermore, norepinephrine aids in the fight-or-flight response, increasing heart rate, blood flow to the skeletal system, and causing the release of glucose. Dopamine acts as both a hormone and neurotransmitter in the brain, often associated with pleasure, excitement, and reward-motivated behavior. These hormones that related with focus, pleasure, and vigor are what allow you and your date to look deeply into each other’s eyes, giggle, and talk for hours on end.

Oxytocin, dubbed the “love hormone” is a hormone that is notorious for playing a role in bonding and amplifying social feelings. Oxytocin is released in different situations: nursing an infant, engaging in sexual activity, and even cuddling! This is turn heightens our social feelings, ultimately allowing trust-building and empathy to come into play. Without hormones, we wouldn’t be able to form the close social bonds that are so essential to relationships. So when you’re in a trusting and committed relationship, don’t forget the little guys: your crazy hormones.

At the age of 82, Laura Cuartas is watching her four children deteriorate in front of her eyes. Starting around the age of 45, they developed what she describes as “the most terrifying illness of the world”, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This early onset of the disease is due to a genetic mutation and it progresses rapidly. Within a few years after symptoms arise, around the age of 45, almost all sensation and function is gone. At age 61, Cuarta’s daughter Maria Elsy, is mute and fed by a nose tube. Her son, Dario, is 55 and babbles incoherently. Laura Cuarta is not the only parent who must take care of her children as they fall victim to this disease. In Antioquia, Colombia, she is a part of the largest known extended family to have this familial Alzheimer’s disease. Of the 5,000 members, about a third of them have the presenilin-1 dominant genetic mutation, guaranteeing they will get the disease.

Familial Alzheimer’s only accounts for about 10% of cases of AD. Most cases come from a genetic mutation at presenilin-1, presenilin-2 or the APP gene. Mutations to these genes almost guarantee that an individual will get the disease. For many years, this extended family’s strain of the disease was thought to be isolated, giving us no information about the Alzheimer’s most of us are familiar with- Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease. This form has an onset of 65 years old. Other than age and family history, there has been no solid risk factor to explain why more than five million American’s are suffering. The APO4 gene has found to be a risk gene, meaning that mutations to this will increase your chances of developing AD, but the disease is not guaranteed. While Sporadic and Familial Alzheimer’s may have different causes, they both result in the same brain changes and symptoms. Plaques and tangles occur in the brain, along with a reduction of synaptic density and neuronal loss.

This is where the Colombian family comes in. Many neuroscientists believe that they are our best hope at unlocking this mysterious disease. Through genetic testing, scientists know exactly who will get the disease. In a 2010 study, using a face to name matching test twenty carriers of the genetic mutation and nineteen non-carriers from this extended family were used to examine hippocampal function years before the onset of clinical symptoms. The hippocampus, a big component of our memory system, is a major part of the brain that is damaged due to Alzheimer’s. Presymptomatic carriers showed greater right anterior hippocampal activation than the matched controls, even twelve years before the average age of onset of the disease. This increased activity could be the brain’s way of compensating to maintain normal cognition. These results could also be because of excitotoxicity due to a disruption of calcium homeostasis. In a study done in 2013, the same population was tested to see if cortical atrophy could also be found before the display of clinical symptoms. It was found that cognitively normal carriers had a thinner cerebral cortex than non-carriers in regions affected by typical sporadic AD, specifically the precuneus, superior parietal lobule, and the angular gyrus.

These presymptomatic changes could act as a preclinical biomarker not only for familial, but sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. These results show that at least six years before the onset of AD, patient’s brains have already begun going through significant changes. Our current approach of treatment once symptoms arise may be too late. By targeting these early changes, there may be a way to delay the onset or even stop the progression of the disease. That is the goal for the new Gentech drug, Crenezumab, which targets beta amyloids and stops them from becoming toxic. This trial is the first to Alzheimer’s drug to be tested on seemingly healthy people, specifically the family in Colombia. One hundred carriers will take the drug and one hundred will take a placebo for five years. An additional hundred non-carriers will also take it. Similar branch studies are also being run across the US. The Gentech trial will prove whether or not amyloids are the root of Alzheimer’s and the brain changes that come with it.

There are currently over five million Americans (that’s about 1 in every 9) suffering from Alzheimer’s. The cost of care and treatment is more than $200 million. But with every study completed and trial run, we are steps closer to finding the root of this disease and possibly a cure.

L-S-D. For many, these three letters may conjure up images of peace signs, rainbows, and hippie circles. Some users claim it has profound, positive short and long term effects on their thinking and perception. Others may see it negatively, as just another recreational drug that naive folks may abuse. One trait that is often overlooked, however, is its potential for medicinal use for certain psychological conditions. Indeed, before it was made illegal in 1966, researchers studied its effects on patients with depression, anxiety, and alcoholism immensely, with over a thousand studies published on the subject. The first American study on the drug concerned how it could be used alongside psychotherapy; subsequently, a government-funded LSD-purpose unit was built into a hospital in Worcester, England in 1955. But now, for the first time in more than 40 years, its benefits when coupled with psychotherapy are being tested once again.

Before we get into the study, it’s important to know a little about LSD. Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly referred to as ‘acid’, is a recreational drug that has been used by approximately 9.1% of the American population. Synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hoffman, it has since become a symbol for psychedelic culture. Unlike many other well known drugs like alcohol and cannabis, LSD is a very potent hallucinogen. The outcomes of taking a hallucinogen produce changes in perception and mood, where intellectual impairment, addictive craving, and stupor are kept at a minimum. Referred to as a ‘trip’, the psychological effects can last between 6-12 hours and vary from person to person. This also includes enhancement of sensations (i.e. colors becoming brighter and music sounding nicer), euphoria, strong connectivity to others, and distortion of time. As the name implies, strong enough doses can cause hallucinations and even synesthesia, a mental state where various senses can blend into each other (seeing music, hearing colors, etc.).

The chemical structure of LSD strongly resembles serotonin, a neurotransmitter that modulates, among many other activities, visual and emotional processing. LSD stimulates these receptors, inducing psychedelic effects. It also affects the thalamus, where sensory impressions are routed by selectively filtering information using bottom-up processing. According to Franz Vollenweider, psychedelic drugs reduce this filter, so that people notice things they have never seen before, or make associations they could not have made without “quieting their mind.” This quality is essential in the study that was recently done.

The study in question was performed in Santa Cruz, California and was published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The study used patients who had life-threatening illnesses and were dealing with anxiety and depression due to end-of-life issues (like anxiety due to shortened life expectancy). In the study, twelve patients were chosen and eight were given the drug while four were given an active placebo (which produces noticeable side-effects to convince patients they are under the influence but not enough to be effective). Neither the researchers nor the patients knew which person received the actual drug. The treatment included “two LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions 2 to 3 weeks apart”. Eleven of the patients had no prior experience with LSD, and only those that had no current drug dependence were chosen. After they took the drug, patients were “instructed to focus their awareness and mindful attention inward to follow their personal process of perception, emotion, and cognition”. According to the researchers, this induced the patients to encounter their own realities through a “dream-like journey”.

The results of the study were remarkable and confirmed what researchers already suspected from prior research. The experimental group reported a significant reduction in anxiety “as experienced on a daily basis”. This was confirmed in both a two-month and twelve-month follow-up. In contrast, those in the placebo group showed no significant change, some actually reporting an increase in anxiety. Even though the study was limited to twelve people, it still shows that LSD has the potential to be used therapeutically.

LSD is classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning that according to the government, it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”, despite it being widely accepted as non-toxic and non-addictive. This has severely restricted the ability for researchers to study the drug. The benefits of its use in a clinical setting could be life-changing for those who need it, yet ignorance and stigmatization have prevented this from occurring. Maybe it’s time we reconsider how we should view this mysterious yet intriguing chemical.

]]>http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/09/psycho-therapeutic-tripping-a-new-way-to-treat-certain-mental-illnesses/feed/0I THINK I’m Having a Baby!http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/i-think-im-having-a-baby/
http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/i-think-im-having-a-baby/#commentsTue, 07 Oct 2014 00:02:08 +0000Gianna Absihttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/?p=7005Have you ever watched the show “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”? I don’t know about you, but I have never understood how that could happen, because of all of the symptoms and telltale signs that come with pregnancy. What I am about to talk about is a condition that is completely opposite of this reality television show. It is a condition where a woman actually believes she is pregnant and gets all of the symptoms, including an enlarged belly and breasts, but there is no baby inside of her. This is called Pseudocyesis, or more commonly, Phantom Pregnancy.

I first learned about this phenomenon when I read Dr. Ramachandran’s book, Phantoms in the Brain. This book describes many different diseases and disorders of the brain that Dr. Ramachandran has observed in his patients, including Phantom Limb Syndrome, the man who actually died laughing, a woman who denied the whole left side of her body, and, of course, Pseudocyesis. In his chapter “You Forgot to Deliver the Twin,” Ramachandran talks about a case study in the 1930s of a woman named Mary. She seemed to be having a very normal pregnancy when she went to see her doctor at nine months pregnant. Everything was in place, her belly was dropped, her breasts enlarged, but her doctor could not seem to find a heartbeat. He eventually noticed that her belly button was not pushed out. (A trademark of real pregnancy is an everted belly button.) Dr. Ramachandran has seen this before, a common case of Pseudocyesis. Even when Mary was told that there was no baby inside of her, she did not believe it. So, the doctor told Mary he would anesthetize her and deliver her baby. When she woke up, he gave her the news that her baby had died after birth and, right away, her belly flattened. After a week, Mary was back, bigger than ever, telling her doctor that he had “Forgot to deliver the twin!”

Ramachandran believes this condition is mainly due to society and social pressures. Phantom pregnancy was much more common when women were expected to have a lot of children. The rate of phantom pregnancy in the 1800′s was about 1 in 100, where as now it is more like 1 in 10,000! Back then, women really wanted and felt the need to have children. They would get depressed if they were having difficulties, and this depression would lead to reduced dopamine and norepinephrine levels. Dr. Ramachandran explains that reduced levels of these neurotransmitters may lead to a reduction in hormones that mediate ovulation, menstruation, breast enlargement, and lactation. Some women may even experience morning sickness. This longing for pregnancy also makes a woman feel the need to look more pregnant, so a gas build-up in her abdomen will make her belly look big, and as her diaphragm falls, she will look more pregnant.

This example, like many others, shows the immense power the mind has over the body. In this case alone, the mind was able to alter a woman’s physical appearance, as well as her inner, molecular system. I guess now I understand the reality television show. If the mind is capable of making a woman truly believe she is pregnant when she is not, then the mind is undoubtedly capable of making a woman believe she is not pregnant when she is.

]]>http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/i-think-im-having-a-baby/feed/0A Call to Arms: Conquering the Brainhttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/a-call-to-arms-conquering-the-brain/
http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/a-call-to-arms-conquering-the-brain/#commentsMon, 06 Oct 2014 23:05:27 +0000Anna Gazianohttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/?p=7002We put a man on the moon. We mapped the entire human genome. And next, we will have access to the brain and all of its connections at our finger tips.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative (known most commonly as the BRAIN Initiative) is a collaborative research effort that is a “combination of approaches into a single integrated science of cells, circuits, brain, and behavior”. It will span a variety of institutes in order to engineer new technologies for the study neural systems and apply the technology developed in order to better understand how these systems function in health and disease. President Obama dubbed the Initiative “the next great American project”, following in the hefty footsteps left by the Human Genome Project and the Apollo 11 moon landing. In addition to the President’s endorsement the NIH was heavily involved in the development of the project. NIH Director Francis Collins worked closely with the President and secured a total of 4.5 billion dollars towards the cause. NIH Advisory Committees the 10-12 year project and distributed research areas through 15 NIH Institutes and Centers. Other major players, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the FDA and several private partners, have also contributed major funds and planned specific research projects towards the Initiative. The sudden frenzy for neuroscience research raises many questions – why should this be done now and not in a few decades instead? Should we have been more proactive about advances in neuroscience sooner? What makes this area more in need of financial resources and government attention than research in cancer, nutrition or epidemics?

The root of the problem from which this Initiative grew is that most neurological and psychiatric conditions not only have no curative treatments but unknown causes. There is much we do not know about conditions, even those that are well publicized and receive their share of pharmacological research. For example, the schizophrenia was first documented in 1887 and had been studied extensively since then. It has, however, only recently come to light that schizophrenia actually consists of a combination of eight different disorders – each with their own symptoms and governed by their own set of genes. With the many mental health issues plaguing society, it goes without saying that getting to the bottom of these conditions is crucial. Current technology – like fMRIs and electro- and magnet- encephalograms – has been helpful in distinguishing overall functionality of brain areas and study of neuronal structure. However, today’s techniques are too slow and too insensitive to cover complex patterns in brain dynamics with detail and accuracy. The next steps need to be taken, and they need to be taken soon.

The newest generation of tools will be based on nanotechnology, imitating microchip production by using engineered ensembles of nanodevices and nanoparticles. The first five years of the Initiative focuses on engineering this technology and delivering usable products of sufficient technological standards. The following five years will see the application of this technology in identification of different brain cell types, generation of extensive circuit diagrams and synapses, and linking brain activity with cognitive abilities and behavior. While this raises many ethical issues – including but not limited to the effects of neural enhancement, data privacy and appropriate use of brain data – the benefits are countless. Now, we not only have a plan for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders, but also a means of getting there.

]]>http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/10/06/a-call-to-arms-conquering-the-brain/feed/0Just Forget It!http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/04/17/just-forget-it/
http://sites.bu.edu/ombs/2014/04/17/just-forget-it/#commentsThu, 17 Apr 2014 14:00:02 +0000barrosorhttp://sites.bu.edu/ombs/?p=6961Have you ever lost something, yet had the feeling that you knew where it was?

Have you ever studied hours for an exam only to forget most of what you have learned?

I am sure you have had an experience in which you were frustrated by a spotty memory. Memory is an extremely complicated process. In a nutshell, it is the ability to store, connect, and retrieve information over time. The key stages are encoding, storage and retrieval. In the encoding phase, our minds process sensory information and convert it into enduring memories, a process that primarily occurs at the hippocampus. As its name suggest, the storage phase is maintenance of information in memory over time. Finally, retrieval is the process by which information is brought back to the consciousness from storage. There are various types of encoding, various types of memory storage, various retrieval cues, as well as many limitations to our memory process.
Although memory is an instrumental part of human existence, it turns out that, despite our constant struggles with it, forgetting is an incredibly important ability. Every day we are exposed to an immeasurable amount of information, and the human brain cannot handle it all. Fortunately, our brain has the ability to forget. But more importantly it has the ability to suppress irrelevant memories and highlight the important ones.

Brain imaging studies using fMRI have shown that our brain’s ability to disregard unimportant information allows us to remember what is important. Every time we are exposed to something, our brain automatically remembers similar situations, transforming them and using them for our benefit. Our brain’s ability to forget gives us the talent of prediction. By forgetting irrelevant memories, our brain is able to access those that are important rapidly and effectively. By doing this we are somewhat able to accurately make predictions about life without having various different competing memories or having to sift through a vast amount of recollections.

Forgetting, a process that mainly occurs in the prefrontal cortex, is key to our neural processing system. By avoiding competing memories, we are able to remember what is crucial for our lives. Retrieving relevant memories is not a simple task; it requires energy and uses many mechanisms of the prefrontal cortex. As such, having only important memories permits us to go through our day to day lives in a much more productive and efficient manner.